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Episode 966: Ask, and Ye Shall Receive
Date October 20, 2016 Summary Ben and Sam banter about Ben’s engagement, then answer listener emails about Andrew Miller, playoff tactics during the regular season, renaming the playoff rounds, and more. Topics * Andrew Miller as a starter (again) * Price for one Andrew Miller appearance * Strategically forfeiting games * Pitchers running the bases * Renaming the playoff rounds * Episode 964 follow-up: Hitting vs catching a MLB pitcher * Umpires hitting MLB pitches Intro Sharon Van Etten, "Ask" Outro Sloan, "The Rest of My Life" Longmire sound clip Banter * Ben proposed (successfully) on-stage to his now fiancee, Jessie, at a Sloan concert. * Sam is impressed at how Ben has leveraged the podcast and his Sloan fandom to make the proposal happen. Email Questions * Mike (Waterloo, Ontario): "Since Andrew Miller's control problems have subsided and he's shown in the playoffs that he can withstand a higher workload, should Cleveland try putting him in the rotation next year? What would Andrew Miller 2.0 look like as a starter?" * August: "Remember that time you decided how much you'd pay David Price for one start in the regular season? Now can you do that with having Andrew Miller in the bullpen for one postseason or World Series game?" * Justin: "How beneficial is the all-out style of play in playoff baseball? They can't do it all year long because it would fatigue everybody. So say you take 30 or whatever or you feel is optimal per season and just forfeit them to give everyone extra rest and make it easier for travel. You'd likely lose 12 or 17 of those games anyway. You can select the games strategically, then when you play you play hard like it's the postseason. Short rest, heavy reliance on best relievers, etc. Could this strategy work in your favor?" * Julia: "I wonder if it could be time for MLB's marketing department to add a slogan or cheesy subtitle to the alphabet soup of NLCS, NLDS, ALCS, ALDS. I know every one of your listeners will roll their eyes at such stupidity but I think for the good of baseball it is time to be outsider friendly. Do you have any shortcut titles for the games in between the Wild Card and World Series?" * Brendan: "I too, would prefer max effort just to say I did it but I would remind the pitcher not to hit me before each pitch. Would you rather stand in the box with only a helmet and try to hit a Noah Syndergaard pitch or try to catch for him? Catching of course you gain more protective gear but now the ball is thrown directly at you." * Nathan: "How much better at hitting would a MLB umpire be than the average person of the same age and physical stature? Would seeing so many pitches give him much of a leg up?" Play Index * Sam uses the Play Index to look up the value of pitchers as baserunners. * Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are, by baserunning runs (BRR), some of the worst all time among pitchers who had at least 50 plate appearances. * 523 of 632 qualified pitchers had negative BRR. Notes * So far in the postseason Andrew Miller has a .090 Championship WPA. * Sam would be willing to pay $1 million for a single Andrew Miller appearance during the LCS. For Game 7 of the World Series he and Ben are willing to pay at least $3 million. * When Sam mentions during the Play Index that 69 pitchers were positive baserunners by BRR, Ben quickly sneaks in a 'nice'. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 966: Ask, and Ye Shall Receive * Ben's Bowery Ballroom Proposal Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes